UVs

Let's set the UVs with the UV Master plugin. Launch the UV Master from the Zplugin menu. Select Work on Clone. Divide the model into polygroups as in Fig.40, separating the hands, feet, arms, legs, tail, body, head and ears. Make sure the Symmetry and Polygroups buttons are enabled in UVMaster. Choose Unwrap. You can check the layout of the UVs by pressing Flatten (press Unflatten to leave). Choose Copy UVs. From the Tools menu select the armadillo body subtool and press Paste UVs to transfer the UVs to the original model.

Fig.40

Select the Shell subtool and launch the UV Master plugin. If you remember, the polygroups of the shell are already separated into inner and outer shell. Make sure the Symmetry and Polygroups options are on. Choose Unwrap. Once again copy the UVs and paste them on the original shell (Fig.41).

Fig.41

Polypaint

To start the painting process, choose the SkinShade4 material. It is a great material for polypainting because it is white while keeping some specularity, not interfering with the perception of the painted colors (Fig.42).

Fig.42

Select the Shell subtool and fill it with a beige color. In the Masking sub-menu (under the Tool menu) select the Mask by Cavity option and then press Inverse. Select a dark brown color and fill with this color (choose Fill Color in the Color menu). Clear the mask. All the little cavities are now dark. This way we will keep all those details in the texture.

As the cavities are too dark we can now paint on top of them with a reduced RGB intensity which will allow for the detail to be kept (Fig.43). Choose a dark color and mark the interior edges of the bands. Also mark the outer edges of the shell. Change the painting mode to Spray and choose Alpha07 as the alpha. Paint with varied tones of gray all over the shell to add some variety to reduce the impact of the cavities.